President asks ‘Bodu Bala Sena’ not to stir hatred

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday urged nationalist
Buddhist monks not to incite religious hatred and violence as he moved to stem
a wave of attacks targeting minority Muslims.

President Mahinda Rajapakse met with monks with the group
known as “Bodu Bala Sena”, or Buddhist Force, and urged them to help maintain
religious harmony in a country emerging from decades of ethnic violence,
according to a statement released by his office.

“It is okay to work to strengthen the Buddhist religion, but
it should be done without creating conflicts with other religions,” the
statement quoted the president as saying.

The Buddhist Force had disassociated itself with a spate of
recent hate attacks against Muslims and public insults against Islam, and
claimed that several “duplicate groups” were pretending to be them, the
statement said. The group has been campaigning for a ban on halal meat that is
permissible for Muslims to consume, but the government has resisted, AFP
reports.